Blog

Last fall, Stacy Dean, USDA’s Deputy Under Secretary for Food Nutrition and Consumer Services, visited the Fondy Farmers Market, Milwaukee's 105-year-old, largest, and first farmers market in Wisconsin to accept SNAP!

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) worked with Michigan’s Grand Traverse Band (GTB) of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians to remove blockages to natural water flow in streams and rivers through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). USDA invested over $18 million in federal grants and $30 million were raised in local matching funds to replace undersized culverts with timber bridges, the removal of old and failing dams, and the purchase of conservation easements to prevent urban development on farmland – particularly fruit farms.

Greeley-Evans School District 6 in northern Colorado was honored and excited to welcome Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to Maplewood Elementary School on March 22. The Secretary and visitors were able to see just one school of more than 30 in District 6 that provide essential health and nutrition programs to more than 22,000 students every day.

Harvesting collard greens and making whole wheat crackers from scratch is not a typical day on the job for me as the Deputy Under Secretary of USDA’s Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services. But I can assure you it is the perfect recipe for a great day at work! Earlier this month, I had the chance to spend the morning at Watkins Elementary School in Washington, D.C. with Admiral Rachel Levine, Assistant Secretary for Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. There, we joined some incredible 5^th grade students during their FoodPrints class and witnessed first-hand the transformational power of nutrition education. And best of all—it was delicious!

As Ramadan, the month of fasting in Islam begins, families are looking forward to gathering for community and home-cooked meals. Here are three food safety tips to keep handy as you whip up your favorite meals for a spectacular iftar (the meal eaten after sunset during Ramadan).

March 31 marks César Chávez Day and serves as a reminder to all Americans of the importance of service, community, education, and commitment to advocating for farmworkers and their families. Chávez was a champion of farmworkers’ rights, calling for fairer wages and improved working conditions and helping open the door for better opportunities for farmworkers across the country.

Pitchers are on the mound and warming up for this season’s opening day of baseball. Ninety feet away, batters, armed only with a wooden stick, prepare to face them. Many parts of America’s national pastime have changed over the years, but the two key elements – putting bat to ball – have remained at its core.

Saving lives is all in a day’s work at Deborah Heart and Lung Center in Browns Mills, New Jersey. In over 100 years of operation, the hospital estimates it has healed 2.3 million patients from every corner of the US and 87 countries around the world.

Producers, feeders, and other stakeholders who want a better understanding of factors that contribute to the market value of cattle, and how these factors can inform marketing and production decisions, can join us at three upcoming in-person events at the USDA Cattle and Carcass Training Centers (CCTC). These events will help producers learn how they can improve their return on investments in their herds and are open to the public.

On January 15-16, 2023, I attended the School Nutrition Industry Conference in San Diego. There, I met with many of our food industry partners that deliver food to school districts across the country. Food industry partners play a crucial role in producing, procuring and delivering food for our school meal programs. Despite the challenges that industry and school food service operators have encountered over the past few years, we are grateful for everything they do to deliver food and serve nutritious meals to tens of millions of children every day.